We get a cool 60’s Hendrix inspired purple oil-on-water design across classic hand-wired Marshall Amp Head, Cab, and matching Dunlop Fuzz Face pedal.

One for those with deep pockets - as this will cost you £3,800 in the UK where they are hand-wired / made, €4,400 in Europe, and $5,000 in the USA. Had I unlimited funds and space - I would possibly spring for one of these cool editions. While I’ve always been a combo guy really - and a 2-amp stereo guy too - with Marshall style on the Left ...

I attend as many as a dozen guitar and pedals shows each year, and am always on the lookout for the best technology for my pedal-builder friends to use. Most of these events are now headphones ones - so you need a solution to connect your pedals to your audience.

I’ve featured quite a number of Headphone Amps on this site over the years - and I feel this is the best one I’ve encountered to date - at least for my preferences.

Firstly it has auto-sensing on the jacks - so you can go Mono ...

Like all the other Synergy Amp variants - the core SYN-20IR Combo Amp is simply just the Power Amp Stage with a Classic American Clean Channel (Fender) - where you can slot in currently 26 different Tube Preamp Modules - which for this device - slot into the top of the amp. Those Modules typically add 2 further Channels - so you end up with a very formidable 3-Channel Amp that you can easily upgrade with any of those snap-in Modules!

As this is a Combo Amp it also has the Celestion Vintage ...

As we’ve seen with Tone King sharing Friedman’s IR Tube Preamp Platform for its two floor-based-amps, we now get 2 different roll-outs of Synergy’s Machine Learning Power Amp Platform for 2 very different audiences. With a full-fat Amp-top / Rack unit for Friedman, and a more compact floor-based Pedal unit for Wampler. 

The Friedman IR-Load is the all-singing and dancing unit - with a much higher power load - which David says should work for amps of up to 200W. The genius of this solution ...

There is of course a decent amount of sharing between Boutique Amps Distribution brands, and the Tone King Imperial Floor Amp owes everything to Friedman’s IR Platform - upon which it is built.

Obviously it’s been tuned to replicating Tone King’s Amps, first the Imperial, and then the Royalist. Each of those have different parameters in accordance with their source amps - and are built up on very similar circuits - but somewhat miniaturised.

The Imperial Floor Amp has already been a ...

This is a culmination of a life’s work for Thomas Blug - we’ve seen Amp 1, Mercury and Iridium editions over the years - and it’s like seeing an elite watchmaker add further complication to his triple-axis tourbillon watch!

You have 26 digitally-enhanced controls - which shape analog components (including a 100W NanoTube) into myriad amp and pedal profiles - by engaging and fine-tuning those components in various ways. Thomas has been developing this for at least a decade now - with the aim...

The Cube range of Amps is somewhat unique as it straddles both Boss and Roland brands - which is very unusual. Moreover the selection of amps is variously marked out by a mix of Boss, Cube and Roland decals.

Back in 2022 some of the formerly Roland Cube Amps switched to Boss branding - and I thought all those amp models would eventually transition to Boss - all bar the Jazz Chorus, Blues Cubes, and some of the PA type speakers - but Roland has held onto some of those Cube Models too - which...

I had meant to acquire the GP-5 - but since this expanded range edition came out - it made more sense to get this one - it has a little more about, and a more elegant interface. Like the GP-5 it also has a neat Bluetooth app, while you can seemingly get to most things via the pedal interface. This one has only just landed for me - so I’ve only just scratched the surface so far - but I am really liking it already!

Controls - 3 x quick access Parameters, Core Parameters Rotary / Menu Select, ...

So this is essentially a late birthday present - which arrived in the 3rd week of November - so I’ve had it for a few weeks already.

There is still no sign of the Stand!? - which I also ordered in on the Kickstarter Campaign - nor any advice as to when that might land!

For the amp itself I’m hugely impressed with its build and feature set - high quality materials throughout and an incredible amount of features onboard - every other amp manufacturer should sit up and take notice! I was ...